Vitamin E may not help immune response in elderly

Taking a daily vitamin E supplement does not prevent respiratory infections in older people and could even aggravate symptoms in those who do get a cold, find scientists in a new study.

The study showed that adults over the age of 60, who took 200 mg of vitamin E daily for two years, were more likely to have a raised temperature and tended to be ill for longer when they got a respiratory tract infection than those who did not take vitamin E.

The researchers set out to discover the effects of daily multivitamin-mineral and vitamin E supplementation on elderly, given that immune response in this sector of the population has been reported to improve after micronutrient supplementation.

However the study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association​ found that vitamin E supplements did not decrease the risk of developing respiratory infections at all.

Researchers suggested that the participants in the group were particularly well nourished and people with deficiencies of certain nutrients might benefit.

The study involved 652 adults, aged 60 and older, who were divided into four groups. One group took multivitamin pills with vitamin E, the second took only multivitamins, a third group took only vitamin E, and another group took placebos or sugar pills.

Around 70 per cent of those taking a multivitamin developed a respiratory tract infection at least once during the study period, compared with 68 per cent of those in the vitamin E group, 66 per cent of those taking both supplements, and 67 per cent of those taking placebos.

Those who took vitamin E and developed a respiratory tract infection were sick for about 19 days, compared with 14 days among those who did not take vitamin E, researchers found. Vitamin E users reported a greater number of symptoms and more severe symptoms associated with their infection. Nearly 37 per cent of vitamin E users developed a fever, compared with 25 per cent of those who did not take the vitamin supplement.

Researchers suggest that more severe symptoms could be a result of more vigorous immune activity. Alternatively, symptoms might become more severe when there is an imbalance of certain nutrients in the body.

However they stressed that further research was needed on the effects of multivitamin or mineral supplements on elderly adults and suggested that elderly people, especially those who are already well-nourished, may have to be cautious about taking vitamin E supplements if results were confirmed.